Digital Asset Management for Project Managers

In the case of digital asset management, a project manager is likely to be a professional in the marketing or creative department who manages larger-scale development or campaigns.

As a DAM system project manager, your job is to identify the scope of a project, assign tasks to the key people involved, and make sure deadlines and budgets are met. There are a lot of moving parts, so it’s wise to consider implementing a DAM system that can help streamline your creative and marketing projects.

A good digital asset management system will help you:

Host digital assets in a centralized environment

Facilitate collaboration on shared team responsibilities

Control asset versions, review and approvals

Align digital assets with specific project tasks

Well-crafted DAM software will also integrate with project management software

Here’s an example of the kind of project a PM might be managing, as well as the other team members and digital assets that are involved:

Jillian is the communications manager for health research center at a major university. Her center recently received a grant for a public engagement program that will last three years and include 26 public events. Jillian is the project manager for the program and for the center’s digital asset management system. Her team consists of a graphic designer, two outreach specialists and a web developer. The research center director and the director of public outreach will be part of the approval group for the logo and brand guidelines, so they’ll also need access to the digital asset management system.

Each of these individuals has a distinct role, and will need different amounts of access to the DAM software. The great thing about robust DAM software is that Jillian can create roles with specific parameters that meet the contingencies for each role — so each person has access to what they need, and nothing more.

The first eight months of the project will be focused on developing educational materials and an online portal for the community to access resources and find out about events. Jillian and her team will need to produce the following as digital assets:

Brand guidelines

A logo

Swag: t-shirts for volunteers and stickers for participants

Illustrations for the website

Posters for each event

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) post images announcing the project and one for each event

Presentation templates

Handout templates

Illustrations for complex scientific topics

A branded illustration for placement on the research center website homepage

Invitations to a celebration reception at project completion

Each event poster and social media post image is branded with project information and logos from community hosts. Posters are physically sent to community hosts several weeks in advance of an event, so Jillian is managing many small deadlines within the project. Because she is well-versed in digital asset management, Jillian does a good job of teaching her team how to properly tag and categorize all of her digital assets so they’re easy to locate whenever they’re needed in the process.

For the most part, the project team will be reviewing and approving designs. Once events begin, nearly two-dozen researchers will need access to illustrations, logos, and presentation templates as they prepare for events. For these late-entry team members, Jillian will set up specific roles that accommodate their needs so they have easy access to the digital assets. But they typically won’t be able to upload assets, or make any versioning changes to the actual assets themselves.

This is a classic example where the use of a digital asset management system is a critical component to the success of Jillian’s projects. By having all of her digital assets readily available to her team, Jillian’s projects can move along more efficiently and accurately.

No matter what your organization’s project list looks like, your team will greatly appreciate the fact that digital asset management relieves them of having to search through emails or shared drives, as well as having to examine dates on files for the most recent version. Implementing a good DAM solution means project files, and the digital assets they contain, are simply there for the people who need them — when they need them.

These are some of the ways a DAM solution empowers smoother collaboration. Everyone knows where to go to find the digital assets they need, and conversations about that media happen in a centralized location. As a project manager, your DAM system allows you to check in on progress at any time by viewing a digital asset and its related comments, versions or approvals.

If your digital asset management system has an application-programming interface (API), your assets can sync up with project management tools and other collaboration software — making digital assets easily accessible within projects, and further streamlining the project management process.

Digital asset management makes it easier for your team to centralize, access and share your digital assets, and move a project to completion.